EI – DER EISENBAHNINGENIEUR | Issue 10/2002
Observer, SNCF's new automatic gauge inspection system
In France, just like in the rest of Western Europe, the gauge occupation in the tracks network gets tighter and tighter. The railroad vehicles are getting bigger (double flour wagons, special transports) and also the tilting-technique needs supplementary room. These facts are increasing the need for exact and fresh data about track geometry and possible obstacles. In these days of lean economy, the capture and the exploitation of these data have to happen fast and (almost) without human work. Furthermore, the data acquisition should not interfere with the remaining traffic and it goes without saying that the data have to be uninterrupted and continuous in order to be valuable (an undetected obstacle would be catastrophic). All these needs are not specific to the SNCF, all big railroad companies are struggling now with the same difficult task.